The Politicians Of This Class Have Decided For Themselves That
The Summum Bonum Is To Be Found In Bread And The Circus Games.
If
they be free to eat, free to rest, free to sleep, free to drink
little cups of coffee, while the world passes before them, on a
boulevard, they have that freedom which they covet.
But equality
is necessary as well as freedom. There must be no towering trees
in this parterre to overshadow the clipped shrubs, and destroy the
uniformity of a growth which should never mount more than two feet
above the earth. The equality of this politician would forbid any
to rise above him instead of inviting all to rise up to him. It is
the equality of fear and of selfishness, and not the equality of
courage and philanthropy. And brotherhood, too, must be invoked -
fraternity as we may better call it in the jargon of the school.
Such politicians tell one much of fraternity, and define it too.
It consists in a general raising of the hat to all mankind; in a
daily walk that never hurries itself into a jostling trot,
inconvenient to passengers on the pavement; in a placid voice, a
soft smile, and a small cup of coffee on a boulevard. It means all
this, but I could never find that it meant any more. There is a
nation for which one is almost driven to think that such political
aspirations as these are suitable; but that nation is certainly not
the States of America.
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